Stephen Henderson: The right way to stop gun violence

January 20, 2013

Free Press Editorial Page Editor

We've heard a lot this week from legal gun owners about their rights, and the belief among many of them that President Obama's plans for tighter firearms regulation are bald, aggressive infringements.

They might be right.

I spent five years covering the U.S. Supreme Court -- reading, writing and thinking about the U.S. Constitution, its meaning and origins. And there's no question: The right to bear arms is as exalted and protected in our constitutional framework as any other right.

I don't like guns, don't own any and, truth be told, don't really respect the choice to have one if it's not fur hunting. In my cultural consciousness, a gun is nothing more than a tool for killing.

But guns are woven into the fabric of this country's founding, and have an integral tie to the very notion of freedom, how it's preserved and how it's defended.

Some of what the president has suggested (bans on certain ammunition cartridges and certain kinds of weapons) courts a prolonged and irresolvable argument about liberty. At the end of that conversation? Not much in the way of improved outcomes.

What we need to be talking about is the responsibility that legal gun sellers and owners bear for the number of their weapons that wind up in illegal hands.

Obama's best chance to make a real change lies in highlighting the nexus between legal gun ownership and illegal possession.

Think of it this way: The average miscreant wreaking havoc with a gun likely didn't buy that gun from a legal dealer or go through the necessary background checks. But someone else did. And heightening the level of responsibility for the legal seller and purchaser of that weapon is one of the best ways to stop the flow of guns into hands that ought not wield them.

Daniel Webster is the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. There aren't many people who've spent more time or energy thinking about the link between legal and illegal gun ownership in this country.

"A separate ATF study found that over half of guns recovered from criminals and crime scenes were traced to 1% of licensed dealers. I've conducted several studies demonstrating that when there is greater regulation and oversight of gun dealers, and when they are vulnerable to civil and criminal penalties if they do not obey gun sales laws, far fewer guns flow into the illicit gun market where criminals obtain their guns."

The constitution permits legislation that revokes an individual's freedom for life after the commission of a third serious crime. Logically, it should also permit the stiffest possible penalties for gun shops caught evading safeguards intended to keep guns from criminals.

And gun owners could be held more responsible, too. If I give a car to someone who's not licensed to drive and they kill someone with it, I could be held liable. If a legal gun owner sells a firearm to someone who shouldn't have it, liability (certainly civil, maybe even criminal) ought to attach in that context, as well.

Sloppiness also ought to be met with consequences. A study in the mid-1990s concluded that nearly 500,000 guns are stolen each year in the United States -- a mind-blowing figure.

It doesn't violate anyone's rights to require the reporting of stolen firearms (laws vary by state right now), or to institute real penalties for gun owners who don't lock up weapons that later wind up being used in crimes.

Some of what Obama proposed last week touches on these ideas. The president would enhance firearms tracing by creating a more thorough database of gun registrations.

But you'd think the strongest advocates for these kinds of policies would be responsible gun owners and sellers themselves. They've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain from initiatives that separate them from their more feckless compatriots.

Guns may be a permanent part of American culture; I can accept that, even if I don't like it.

But if we focus on heightening responsibility for gun ownership and gun sales, we might just make a dent in the madness that makes getting an illegal firearm too easy for any civilized society.

Stephen Henderson is editorial page editor of the Free Press and the host of "American Black Journal," which airs on WTVS-channel 56 at 2 p.m. on Sundays. Contact Henderson at shenderson600@freepress.com, or at 313-222-6659.